Venice Gondola Serenade Tour

For
years, we've witnessed small flotillas of gondolas cruising along
Venice's back canals to the accompaniment of guitars, an occasional accordion,
and O Sole Mio. We never dreamed that someday we'd overcome our
city-slicker cynicism and take such a tour ourselves. But when the opportunity
presented itself during aSilver Whisper cruise, we thought "Why not?" As
long as we were touring the Mediterranean with other people, why shouldn't we
cruise collectively (and musically) on Venice's back canals?

ABOVE: A baritone's voice is
amplified by palazzi and other buildings along Venice's narrow back
canals. (Look closely, and you can see the musicians' union card on the singer's
shirt pocket.)

We joined the Gondola Serenade Tour at a gondola pier near the
Piazza San Marco. There, we and the
other tour participants stood in line while the tour agency's staff efficiently
divided us into small groups and helped us into our gondolas. Within a few
minutes, we were headed down a canal that led deep into the sestieri of
San Marco and Castello--accompanied by a gondola with a guitarist who played
beautifully while a baritone enterained us with O Sole Mio, Santa
Lucia, and other
traditional Italian (as opposed to Venetian) songs.

During
our approximately 50-minute trip, we passed landmarks such as the Church of
Santa Maria Formosa and the Bridge of Sighs--along with innumerable palazzi,
former convents, and private houses. As we passed one house, the gondolier
pointed to an open window where a seagull was perched. He told us in Italian
that the gull--which had become a local celebrity--visited the apartment twice a
day to be fed.

Other tourists waved or took pictures from bridges; we waved
back. And when the music stopped, we were impressed by how silent Venice could
be in August, its busiest time of year, when all we could hear in some places
was the stroke of the gondolier's oar and the lapping of water along the boat's
hull.

The tour finished with our small flotilla of gondolas rowing
past the Doge's Palace and into St. Mark's Basin. It was late evening by now,
and the sun was about to set. We disembarked from our gondola, and the boat was
gone before we could thank the gondolier or offer him a tip--a surprising end to
a pleasant, relaxing, and delightful evening.

Where to book a tour

Local travel agencies can sell you tickets for the Gondola
Serenade tour, and cruise ships often market the tour as a shore excursion
(usually at a higher price than you'd pay if you booked it yourself, since the
cruise ship's price normally includes transportation to the departure point
from the ship).

If you'd like to be sure of having a reservation, you can book
the tour online at a guaranteed--and reasonable--price before you leave home.
Click the link below to visit the "Gondola Ride and Serenade" Web page of
Viator, our booking partner, which has prices in your choice of eight
currencies:

The Gondola Serenade Tour normally provides a boat with musicians for every
four gondolas, so you needn't worry being out of the singer's vocal range.

If you're traveling with companions, you'll probably find it cheaper and
more romantic to arrange a private gondola ride than to book the tour. (The
downside is that you won't be accompanied by a singer and musicians.) See
our Gallivanting by Gondola article for more information. And if you're on a
really tight budget, you can get a relatively cheap (if quick) ride across the Grand
Canal in a traghetto gondola ferry.

Some people love the tour, and some don't. Over the last several years,
we've received two e-mails from readers who were disappointed by the Gondola
Serenade Tour, but we also received an e-mail that said: "We
loved our Gondola Ride complete with music! What a beautiful way to end our
2-week Med cruise with Emerald Princess!"

If you take the tour, we'd be interested in hearing your
feedback. You'll find an e-mail link on the
Contact Us page at
Europe for Visitors.